Question 2: How are Street Kids from different cultures similar?
Afghanistan:
On any given day in the towns and cities of Afghanistan, tens of thousands of children head to the streets to beg and hawk sundries - even during the winter, when bitter winds and snow keep most adults indoors.
These street kids, who earn on average less than $2 a day, are often the only means of support for their families. And their numbers are growing.
There is an estimated of 60,000 children in Afghanistan who work the streets.
Majority of them, they are not going to the school because they are working full time.
India:
Thousands of children roam the streets of major cities around the country and receive neither education, proper food, clothing, or a bed to sleep in at night.
There are estimated estimated at 18 million.
The Republic of India is the seventh largest and second most populous country in the world.
India has become one of the fastest growing developing countries. This has created a rift between poor and rich; 22 percent of the population lives below the income poverty line. Owing to unemployment, increasing rural-urban migration, attraction of city life and a lack of political will. India now has one of the largest number of child laborers in the world.
Street children are subject to hunger, health problems, substance abuse, theft, harassment by the city police and railway authorities, as well as physical and sexual abuse, although the Government of India has taken some corrective measures and declared child labor illegal.
Russia:
In Russia, street children usually find a home in underground pipe and cable collectors during the harsh winter. These underground homes offer space, shelter and most importantly of all, heat from hot water and central heating pipes.
Russia has 1 million street children, and one in four crimes involves underage youths. The number of children without supervision is more than 700,000. However, experts believe the real figure has long been between 2 and 4 million.
Most of Brazil's street children expect to be killed before they are 18. Between 4 and 5 adolescents are murdered daily and every 12 minutes a child is beaten. Conservative figures put the number at 2 killings every day.
Brazil:
Children decide to live on the street because home life is not good, they need to find other ways to get food, or they are already orphans.
They dug in garbage dumps for food, and encountered family violence because of the stress of poverty.
Brazil ranks as the second biggest consumer of cocaine in the world, after the USA.
Some street children are recruited by such drug gangs and given guns for protection.
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world with a population of approximately 190 million people.
The disparity between the rich and the poor in Brazilian society is one of the largest. The richest 1% of Brazil's population control 50% of its income. The poorest 50% of society live on just 10% of the country's wealth.
Vietnam:
According to data by the Street Educators’ Club, the number of street children in Vietnam has shrunk from 21,000 in 2003 to 8,000 in 2007. The number dropped from 1,507 to 113 in Hanoi and from 8,507 to 794 in Ho Chi Minh City.
In the meantime the number of migrant children is increasing. This number is, however, unconfirmed owing to varying definitions of street children.
Some experts mention several different categories of street children in Vietnam: "children who have run away from home or who have no home, and who sleep on the street; children who sleep on the street with their family or guardian; children who have a family or guardian and who usually sleep at home, but work on the streets; economic migrants who rent rooms with other working children; and bonded laborers'
There are almost 400 humanitarian organisations and international non-governmental organizations providing help for about 15,000 children, who live in especially difficult conditions.
How many street kids there are in different countries:
India 18 million
Brazil 10 million
Egypt 1,5 million
Pakistan 1,5 million
Kenya 250,000 - 300,000
Philippines 250,000
Congo 250,000
Morocco 30,000
Honduras 20 000
Jamaica 6,500
Uruguay 3000
There are an estimated 100 million children living in the streets in the world today.
International indifference to the problem has led to continual neglect and abuse of these children.
70% or more of street children are boys.
Most children on the streets are between the ages of about 5 and 17 years old.
Question 2: How are Street Kids from different cultures similar?
Afghanistan:
India:
Russia:
Brazil:
Vietnam:
How many street kids there are in different countries:
Back to group 2!